Widow of South Carolina Detective Sues Over Unauthorized Morgue Photos Taken by EMT

The widow of an Anderson County sheriff’s detective has filed suit alleging that an EMT with a private ambulance service took and shared unauthorized photographs of her husband’s body after he was killed in a motorcycle crash.

According to the complaint, Detective Mark Charles Garrett of the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office was killed on October 1, 2025, at approximately 1:13 p.m., after being involved in a motorcycle accident in Williamston, South Carolina. He sustained multiple traumatic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was transported to the hospital morgue.

The lawsuit was filed by Garrett’s wife, Tanya against Lauren Jutila, an employee of Medshore Ambulance Services, LLC, and against Medshore itself. The complaint alleges that after Detective Garrett’s body arrived at the morgue, Jutila gained access to the remains and used her personal cell phone to take one or more photographs of the body without authorization.

The complaint alleges that Jutila “had no legitimate medical, investigative, or professional reason” to take photographs of Detective Garrett’s body. It further alleges that after taking the photographs, she shared at least one of the images with coworkers and, upon information and belief, showed or transmitted the images to others in the Anderson community.

According to the complaint, the photographs depicted Detective Garrett’s body in a private and sensitive condition. The filing states that no images of the body had been made public and that details concerning the condition of his remains were not public knowledge at the time the photographs were allegedly taken and shared.

The complaint asserts that the unauthorized photographs may have been transmitted electronically through text messaging, social media platforms, email, or other electronic means, raising concerns that the images could be stored in cloud-based systems and disseminated beyond the initial recipients.

The suit alleges that Medshore Ambulance Services owed a duty to handle the remains of Detective Garrett “in a dignified manner” and to comply with the applicable standard of care for the management and handling of human remains. The complaint alleges that Medshore breached that duty by allowing an employee to photograph the body, failing to immediately recover the images, and failing to mitigate the harm caused by the alleged conduct.

The complaint further alleges that taking and sharing unauthorized photographs of deceased individuals is a known and foreseeable risk within medical and emergency services, particularly given the widespread use of smartphones and electronic messaging. It asserts that Medshore failed to adequately train, supervise, and monitor employees with access to deceased individuals.

In addition to negligence claims, the lawsuit asserts causes of action for invasion of privacy, vicarious liability, negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The complaint alleges that the conduct “constituted an unreasonable and highly offensive intrusion” into the privacy of Detective Garrett’s spouse and family and caused severe emotional distress.

The complaint also alleges that Medshore terminated the employee but failed to take adequate steps to ensure that all copies of the photographs were secured or deleted. It states that the plaintiff was not provided with information regarding how many photographs were taken, to whom they were shared, or whether the employee’s phone or cloud accounts were forensically examined to confirm deletion of the images.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages. Here is a copy of the complaint.